In the rich history of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup playoffs, Springfield has its special place.

Of all the owners, general managers and coaches who have pursued AHL glory, the names of Eddie Shore, Jack Butterfield and Pat Egan stand alone – and together.

Only they, working in concert, were able to mold teams that won the cup in three consecutive seasons – 1959-60, ’61 and ’62.

To place Springfield’s record run in perspective, consider this: Over the years, 28 cities have had teams take part in the playoffs. Of those, only seven others have won the cup back to back, and none could do it a third straight time.

The Calder Cup is named for Frank Calder, the National Hockey League’s first president, and first was presented in 1938 at the end of the AHL’s second season. In 1996, the AHL corrected an oversight, presenting Syracuse with the cup it had failed to deliver to its first champion, the Syracuse Stars of 1937.

The Hershey Bears, one of the AHL’s storied franchises, hold records for most Calder Cup championships (11) and final-round appearances (22).

The Cleveland Barons, an early AHL franchise which faded away in the 1970s, won nine Calder Cups and had the AHL’s winningest playoff coach: Hall of Famer Bun Cook, who won seven.

Springfield stands next with seven Calder Cup titles. In addition to those cherished three of the ’60s, Springfield clubs won in 1971 and 1975, then again in 1990 and ’91.

Altogether, Springfield teams have made the playoffs 33 times in the AHL’s 77-year history.

Five players from those Springfield cup teams of the ’60s – Jimmy Anderson, Marcel Paille, Harry Pidhirny, Noel Price and Bill Sweeney – have been elected to the AHL Hall of Fame, along with Shore and Butterfield.

Paille holds the Calder Cup playoff record for most victories by a goaltender, 49. He also backstopped playoff teams in Cleveland, Buffalo and Providence.

The record for most AHL playoff games played? That belongs to Bryan Helmer, currently with the Springfield Falcons at age 40. In his illustrious career, Helmer has played 158 postseason games and won three Calder Cups.

The 1971 Springfield Kings are considered the “Cinderella” team of playoff lore. After finishing below .500 and needing to win a tiebreaker just to make the playoffs, the Kings suddenly became a steamroller, going 11-1 over three rounds to win the cup for coach Johnny Wilson. The Kings capped that remarkable run by sweeping archrival Providence in the finals. For Springfield hockey fans, it was the unforgettable season exemplified by stellar goaltender Billy Smith and hard-digging forward Butch Goring.

In 1975, Springfield had another surprise success story. Jack Kent Cooke, owner of the Los Angeles Kings, threatened to pull his players out of Springfield and fold the team because of poor attendance. Shore averted that disaster by agreeing to take back control of the team, with Cooke agreeing to cover a payroll he would have had to fulfill even if he had folded the team.

Shore renamed the team “Indians” in January, and the season suddenly changed for the better. Springfield not only stayed in the league, but won it all by whipping Providence, Rochester and New Haven in the playoffs.

Springfield’s back-to-back cups in 1990 and ’91 were testimonies to the coaching of Jimmy Roberts, a veteran hockey guy who had won Stanley Cups as a player with the Montreal Canadiens.

The Indians had the New York Islanders as their parent club when they won in 1990. The next season, Springfield became affiliated with the Hartford Whalers, and Roberts won again with a much different roster.

By the way, Springfield could have had two more Calder Cups, but World War II took them away. With the Eastern States Coliseum turned over to the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps during the war, Shore took his franchise to Buffalo on an interim basis – and won back-to-back Cups in 1943 and ’44.

AHL history reflects the league’s changing face. For instance, when the Indians won cups in the ’90s, the AHL had 15 members. At one point, in the 1970s, the league shrank to six franchises. Now it has 30.

Playoff results serve as a litany of cities the league has lost over time. Some of them – Buffalo, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Washington – have become homes to NHL franchises. Some others – New Haven, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Canada’s Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Fredericton, Halifax and Cape Breton – have faded from the landscape.

Cape Breton won its only Cup in 1993, under the stewardship of young general manager Dave Andrews. You’ll now find him in the AHL’s president’s chair.

Since Bruce Landon and Wayne LaChance brought the Falcons into the league as an expansion franchise in 1994-95, they have made the playoffs six times.

Now, as they await their first series since 2003, they represent an exciting new phase for Springfield hockey – and a most welcome one, indeed. 